Currently i have my OS on a 40gb IDE, i have 5x 250gb drive in a software raid 5 array using windows dynamic disks. If i reinstall the OS will i have problems accessing my raid 5 drive or is the array information sotred on the drives and not the os?

With a real RAID controller, the info is stored on the controller....not the HDD's or in the software. This allows you to do a clean install of the OS without redoing the RAID. However, I doubt seriously that a software RAID is the same....which is why they're not as good as a hardware RAID. I think if you wipe the OS and go to do a clean install you'll find the RAID gone and once you're done reinstalling on a single HDD, you'll then have to rebuild your software RAID. Don't quote me on that, I've never touched a software RAID...all the RAID's I've setup or worked on were hardware with a controller card so I could be mistaken about the effects of wiping the OS and reinstalling from scratch.

Curt, you are correct. Stephen, if you install a new OS, it will know nothing of the old RAID array and it will have to be recreated. Keep in mind the other drives in the array that have not been wiped out will still 'remember' the old array. If you attempt to recover that array with the new OS drive installed, it will overwrite the 'new' OS, with the old one.

I seem to recall a FTEDIT routine to get back software raid sets. Might do a search at MS web site and the knowledge base.